Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a serious infectious and widespread human pathogen, represents a major health problem worldwide. Chronic HBV infection has a very high risk of evolving into hepatocellular carcinoma. Although considerable progress was made during the past several years, the pathogenesis of HBV infection is still elusive and a definite diagnosis of HBV-infected liver information still relies on biopsy histological test.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most common viral infections in humans with approximately 2 billion people infected [1]. Among them, 350 million became chronically infected. This is of particular concern in Asia-Pacific areas such as Southern China [2]. Around 25-40% will eventually die of liver disease (viz. cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma); the death rate being 50% for males and 15% for females. Epidemiological studies reveal that HBV infection is a complicated condition and the pathogenesis of the infection is still not fully defined [2, 3]. Although many HBV markers such as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibody, hepatitis Be antigen, hepatitis Be antibody, hepatitis B core antigen, hepatitis B core antibody, IgM and IgG have been identified and used in diagnosing and monitoring the progress of disease, no single serological test can unequivocally diagnose the infection [4]. For example, positive HBsAg is a hallmark for HBV, but negative HBsAg cannot exclude HBV infection [4]. Up to now, a definite diagnosis of HBV-infected liver inflammation still relies on a combination of serological, biochemical and histological examination.
Presently two classes of drugs are used for the treatment of chronic HBV [5, 6]. The first is a class of immunomodulators that act by modulating the immune response of the host to the HBV antigens. The second is a class of viral suppressors. The current best immune modulating drug, interferon α2b, only has limited effectiveness, especially with Asian patients. The viral suppressing agents need to take a long time to effectively decrease the level of HBV. Obviously, more specific and effective diagnosis and treatment methods are needed.